In a statement, the Agriculture Ministry says avian influenza was discovered in chickens at three farms in Western Colombia's Tolima state. The affected flocks were immediately quarantined to halt the spread of the disease.
The ministry adds there is no sign of the H5N1 strain of bird flu that experts fear could mutate and become a global pandemic.
"It's not the type of virus that has the world worried. It is not the type of virus that has sickened people in Asia." Agriculture Minister Andres Felipe Arias told reporters, adding chickens throughout the country will be checked for the virus.
So far, H5N1 has swept through poultry populations in Asia since 2003, infecting 116 people and killing 60, mostly poultry workers, and resulting in the deaths of more than 100 million birds.
